Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have an update now! With the benefit of a little more experience (albeit only a few months) I can see that part of the problem was the whistles, and part was me. The main two whistles I had issues with were the feadog and the Generation. My other half gave me a Tony Dixon trad for my birthday last...

This is me playing Flowers of Edinburgh, the piece I played (badly!) at an open mic session last week with my friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKUABbcr ... SGpTv3Hxg=

I'm just getting started with the whole YouTube channel thing

I very recently came into possession of a Jerrry Freeman tweaked Bluebird, and I am very happy to say it's by far and away the best of my whistles. It has a beautiful sweet sound and plays like a dream. I played it at a folk gig this week and it sounded fab

-Trawler

So, it's over and done! I would say overall we did ok. We played at The Railway pub in Winchester - not a brilliant pub, but the attic space we used was nice. Shutting my finger in the toilet door should not be an experience to repeat, however. We did four songs in the end - Star of the County Down ...

Blaydo wrote:Well, how did it go???

Hasn't happened yet - its tonight ><

I'm thinking of asking if we can practice it a bit slower, maybe even perform it a bit slower. What do people think? Dunno what speed you're taking it (?), but bear in mind that it's a Scots Measure rather than a reel and normally taken/sounding best a little slower. Thanks for the advice Peter! I ...

Ok, so I let myself be talked into performing at an open mic folk evening in Winchester next Tuesday (3rd April I think?) with my friend on fiddle and her brother on guitar. We're playing Star of the Country Down first with fiddle and whistle on melody. I can do that one. Then we're playing Swallowt...

Thanks to everyone for the range of advice! I'll get different whistles, see what I like, and keep practicing. For the record, the feadog, when stuck with - to me at least - sounds better when warmed up than the gen, but I haven't done any tweaking yet. I'm largely sticking to my Meg for the time be...

Thanks to everyone for your tips and advice! I never considered it might be my breath control at fault, but that doesn't surprise me. I'm still at the beginners stage of trying to decide the best places in a track I should take a breath. I'll try the blu-tack tweak on my feadog, practice my breath c...

My feadog is my least favourite whistle. It's brass and it sounds dreadful, a real thick voice - it requires a little extra breath just to get low end notes, and struggles with high end notes to the point where it's virtually unplayable. My new Generation whistle came today. It's brass. It sounds aw...

Wow, I had NO idea there were so many different makes of whistle out there! I've made myself a WhOAD acquisition list which I fully intend to explore as and when my funds permit. My Generation was dispatched today so hopefully that should turn up on Monday. Clive, I sent you a PM last weekend - not ...

Hooked up with an old friend from school today, and was persuaded to go to a fiddle workshop in Southampton - they run on the third Saturday of the month. It's run by a woman named Kath (can't remember her full name, sorry) and aimed at beginners. It was a lovely small venue, and there were only sev...

Ok, further to that, buying stuff on Amazon is WAY too easy. Just bought myself a Generation D whistle with appealing red mouthpiece (not my first choice - I liked the look of the blue mouthpieced nickel Gen better, but the red one was a little cheaper and pay day is a long way away). Then I added a...

DrPhill wrote:If you are really talking WhOAD here, then I would have thought the answer was 'all of them, and a few more.....' .

That sounds like a good answer to me Thank you everyone.

Think I'll start with the Generation then work my way out...


-Trawler

I own 3 whistles at the moment - a Meg, a Clarke and a Feadog, all in D. Each sounds different. The Meg has a solid though very slightly reedy voice (reedier at the high end) while the Clarke has a sweet but breathy tone. The Feadog has a solid but thick tone. I'm looking for whistles of reasonable ...